


The trouble with glasses (and, more importantly, what it leads to)

by Melie



Series: Practice makes Perfect (KurooTsukki) [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (also far away in the background), Bokuto and Akaashi in the background, Flirting, I had a small idea and then it escaped me and became Serious, M/M, Season/Series 02, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi Friendship, serious talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 23:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11747892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melie/pseuds/Melie
Summary: Kei is on his second night of extra practice, and still not 100% sure of what he's doing there. And then they take a break, and Kuroo tries to Talk.(Set in between "In which someone gets hit in the face" & "Private Practice")





	The trouble with glasses (and, more importantly, what it leads to)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bisc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bisc/gifts).



> This is not what I was supposed to be writing today. What am I doing. Why.
> 
> Also: I love these guys waaay too much.
> 
> And also: this training camp is lasting way longer than a week. For the purpose of the "Practice makes Perfect" series, let's just pretend they're stuck in a time loop and nobody noticed.

There was a lot going on on that court, even with so few of them. Bodies seemed to float mid-air, some maybe more than most. It was all Kei could do to follow Kuroo's pace, but he did it nonetheless, each jump higher than the last, each block stronger, but spikes from the other side were growing more vicious as well.

It was a hot night, and beads of sweat threatened to drip into his eyes. He'd swipe them off with his arm when he got the chance, or just try and blink them away.

He could have stopped. It was just a club, after all. Worse than that: it was extra practice. With “extra” underlined three times. So what was he doing there, jumping around with idiots, submitting his ears to the pain of whatever it was Bokuto was shouting this time?

Tsukki didn't have a solid answer for that one.

Sure, part of it had to do with Yamaguchi. He could still hear his friend's voice (his best friend, his only friend), and the weight of their confrontation sometimes seemed to crush his chest. Words ringing in his ears. Words he wasn't fully able to listen to yet.

But if he were to be completely honest, it wasn't the only reason he was here. There was another voice, full of promises and provocation. A voice that now rose, on this second night of training, just as a fist bumped his shoulder.

“Let's take a break, okay?”

Kuroo couldn't have timed it better. The sweat on his forehead wasn't the only issue Kei was facing. He needed water.

And, perhaps more importantly, he needed to clean his glasses. Which was becoming increasingly difficult, because of the aforementionned sweat in which his T-shirt was also drowning in.

“May I?”

Kei instantly glared. Outside of practice, glaring at Kuroo seemed like the easiest option.

“What do you know about cleaning glasses?”

“Nothing. So: may I?”

“Your lack of logic baffles me.”

“It's not as if I could make a worse job of it than you are.”

If he'd been able to see, Kei would have noted the smudges on his lenses. He could just as well guess their presence.

“Fine. But you better not break them.”

“If I broke them, you wouldn't be able to play, and I wouldn't want that.”

In a fleeting moment, Kei remembered the hand that had touched his face the other day. And tried to push that image away, if only so it wouldn't get in the way of his comeback.

“Are you admitting that you wouldn't be able to stop Bokuto's spikes on your own?”

“Nope. Now, let me see...”

Tsukki stood still as Kuroo walked away with his glasses. In a blur, he saw him lean down towards a bench, and remembered the presence of a T-shirt on said bench.

“I always keep a spare one nearby. Not that I'd remember to change, but you never know. Could be an excuse to take off my top in front of impressionable students.”

It seemed safer to pretend that last sentence had never been uttered.

And then Nekoma's captain was back at Kei's side.

“Don't move.”

Too late: he'd already taken a step back as the hands approached his face.

“Don't move, I said.”

This time, he didn't. And let Kuroo put his glasses back on.

“Never do that again. Ever.”

“Ha! Now, about the other day-”

“You guys ready to roll again?”

Apparently, Bokuto still had stamina left, which Tsukki was now surprisingly thankful for.

“Just a minute!”

“Oh come on, Kuroo!!”

“We really do not need a minute,” Kei insisted.

“Just let me talk, Four-Eyes.”

“No.”

“I think I've figured something out, and I'd like to run it by you. See if I've got it right.”

Intrigued (in spite of himself), Kei tilted his head slightly to the side.

“What?”

“Are you the kind of person that's so used to getting everything right on the first go that you don't know how to deal with not being instantly perfect at doing something?”

He blinked. Once. Twice.

“Should I take that as a yes?”

“And why would you even-”

“Because I know this feeling. I've been first of the class, too. Still am. Do you know how much it sucked, getting my first B? Of course you do, you're living it right now. Suddenly giving up seems like a better option, because if you're not already at the top, how could it ever work?”

“This is getting way too philosophical for me.”

“Hear me out.”

A hand – always that same hand, they should have just kept training, keep that hand busy with blocking – was pulling Kei's T-shirt, keeping him from moving away. Well, he _could_ have moved away, really, but somehow that slight pull was all he needed to stay put. But he wouldn't turn back and face Kuroo either, and kept his eyes straight in front of him as he readied himself to hear the rest.

“Spit it out, then.”

“It's not how it works. It simply isn't, Four-Eyes. You can't win every time, you can't be the best every time, or not instantly. But just because you're not at the top, doesn't mean you can't enjoy the climb.”

“Tsk.”

He was biting his lower lip, hard. He couldn't even have said why.

“You sure can talk.”

“Let's go back to the court, then, and I'll show you that I can do more than just talk.”

Kuroo passed him by without looking back, which was odd – Tsukki had pinned him as the kind of person who would have loved to see the face he was making at that moment.

Kei let out a deep sigh, threw away his towel, and went back to work.

Whatever Kuroo had to show him... he didn't mind seeing it.

 


End file.
